Representative Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) celebrated the passage of his Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act in the House of Representatives on Thursday, which coincides with the end of the 42-day Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.
Rep. Ciscomani introduced the bill last week. It provides full funding for all DHS agencies outside of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
"Today, the House took action once again to stand with the men and women who defend our homeland every single day," said Rep. Ciscomani in a press release. "For more than 40 days, DHS personnel have done their jobs without receiving a paycheck because of political games in Washington. That is unacceptable."
The Arizona congressman further emphasized, "As a representative of a border district, with CBP, Border Patrol, TSA and other federal employees, and a state who experiences catastrophic wildfires and relies on FEMA, I am proud to stand with these men and women who should never be used as leverage in partisan fights, and I'm honored to lead this bill that passed the House today to support them and their families."
On Friday morning, Senate Democrats and Republicans seemed to find a silver lining: DHS is now set to be funded without extra money for ICE and parts of CBP, but without the reforms to ICE that Democrats were demanding, such as requiring judicial warrants for raids and prohibiting agents from wearing masks.
Both Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are taking it as a win, with Sen. Thune emphasizing the fact that the reforms to ICE were not present, while Sen. Schumer is saying the final result is what Democrats were after the whole time.
The new spending package is heading back to the House, and TSA lines at airports are expected to go back to normal.
